Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Lo and behold, the new puzzle season has begun! And beginnings are critical. Sentences begin with capital letters, albums begin with hit songs, and the first in a movie trilogy is always the best. This, however, is something we don't always seem to realize.

You're probably like me in that you remember the ninth inning home runs and forget the second inning ones. Each run scored is worth the same, though, isn’t it? And one might even argue that runs scored in the early innings are often more significant because the game is less likely decided at that point. Regardless of such logic, most people, including myself, continue to put a disproportionate amount of focus on the end.

However, I urge you to remember one thing. Each inning carries equal weight.

Leadoff hitting is what you should focus on. Each inning’s leadoff hitter is the most important, whether the first or the ninth inning. Don’t ask me to quote the source, but a team is something like 3 times more likely to score in any inning if they get the leadoff man on than if they don’t.

Take a second to think about that. Early, middle, or late innings, it’s the first guy up that really matters. After the leadoff guy, the difference the following folks make is significantly diminished. Maybe that means we can ignore everything past the leadoff hitter?

I’ll leave it at that, as I know there’s a puzzle to get to. Now, with no further ado, here’s the part we’ve been waiting for:

Hint (11:07am PT): The opening text is relevant for more than one reason.
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Puzzle Rules: The answer to the puzzle is a Dodger. Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:

Email us with the first and last name of the Dodger player who is the answer, along with your reasoning (answers arrived at via luck or the wrong reasoning, even if correct, count for participation credit only). And please include your screen name somewhere in the email; and

Post a comment simply saying you have emailed your solution attempt. I may not be able to reply to your original email promptly, so please be patient and check back on the comment thread for the latest news; I may confirm correct answers there.

Last season's puzzlers will remember my common refrain, which holds true here: If you have the correct answer, you will know it is correct. If you're not sure if you have the correct answer or not, then you don't have it.

Quadsevens, please tell me that you are not using a plastic Dodgers Levy Restaurant cup in your household. If you're actually saving these for future usage, please let me know; I can save four to five of these for you each game!

J Steve, I guess it's only easy if you're an oldtimer who has got to know the inner workings of Eric Karros' mind. It's his style of puzzle that last year's denizens have come to know well. If you don't figure it out this time, you'll see when he explains the answer tomorrow how his devious mind works, and it will help in future puzzles.

Am I really that easy to read and figure out? I guess this puzzle does have some similarities to a few from last year. But to your point Berko, it's good we have Sax creating puzzles too, his mind works quite differently.

Sax, I just saved the two cups I had when I went to a preseason game this year. Makes me feel like I'm drinking a $12 beer when I watch the Dodgers at home. I don't plan on saving anymore of them, but thanks anyways.

It's a long PCS season. Just because I got this puzzle right in 4 minutes, doesn't mean that someone else (Jose, Loney Fan, Fanerman, or one of the many other puzzle solvers) won't take over first later in the year.